Earlier this month, Touchstone Research’s COO and Security Officer, Travis Santa, joined a panel of industry leaders for the Insight Platforms Demo Days series. The session, titled “When Agencies Build Tech,” explored a growing trend: research agencies developing their own technology to better serve clients. Fellow panelists included Karin Nelsson, CEO of Demoskop; Serigne Fall, Co-founder of LOOKA; and Tovah Paglaro, founder of Fathom.
The discussion highlighted a key principle that drives our work at Touchstone Research: to create the best market research tools, you need to deeply understand the research process.
Tech Built by Researchers, for Researchers
We were proud to showcase two of our most impactful in-house technologies, which we believe are among the top market research tools for their specific applications:
- Secure Content Testing (SCT): Our proprietary solution for safely testing pre-release video and digital content. SCT integrates visible and invisible forensic watermarking to provide the highest level of security for media research.
- Dial Tester – A Moment-to-Moment Online Dial Testing Tool: A real-time feedback platform that measures second-by-second audience sentiment. Designed with a focus on usability—especially for youth research—our online dial tester delivers actionable insights through an intuitive interface and a real-time reporting dashboard
Why We Built Our Own Market Research Tools
As Travis explained during the panel, both SCT and our Dial Tester were born from necessity. While many top market research tools are available, we found they couldn’t meet the specific demands of our clients, particularly in the media and entertainment sectors where content security is paramount. Off-the-shelf platforms simply didn’t offer the protection our clients needed, so we built SCT to fill that gap.
Similarly, existing online dial testing solutions lacked the usability and flexibility required for our specialized youth research. Our team built Dial Tester from the ground up, using direct user feedback to create one of the best market research tools for engaging younger audiences.
“We built SCT and Dial Tester because we saw a real need—especially in media and youth research—where existing solutions just weren’t cutting it. Our team knows what works in the field, so we were able to design our platforms around real research challenges, not hypothetical ones.”
— Travis Santa, COO & Security Officer, Touchstone Research
Integrated into Our Services, Not Bolted On
What makes Touchstone’s approach unique is how seamlessly our tools integrate into our research operations. They aren’t stand-alone products; they are embedded within the qualitative and quantitative studies we run for clients. This ensures a better user experience, tighter feedback loops, and higher-value insights.
Watch the Full Panel Recording
To hear more about how agencies like Touchstone Research are building their own tech to deliver superior results, watch the full panel discussion here:
At Touchstone Research, we stand at the intersection of innovative research methods and scalable tech. Tools like SCT and our online dial testing solution are more than just platforms—they’re extensions of our commitment to data quality, respondent experience, and client success.